in an open field, on both sides of the road, with a dense woods in his front, and about 1 1/2 miles from Iuka. He opened on us with musketry, and I immediately threw put the detachment of the Fifteenth Illinois, dismounted, as advanced skirmishers, with the road as the center of my lint of battle. I ordered the Tenth Missouri to deploy to the right and left of the road and dismount, which was quickly executed, with four companies ov the right and three on the left hand side. The mountain howitzer battery was ordered into battery on the road., I then ordered some

four companies of the Seventh Kansas to dismount and deploy to the right and left of the road, in line of skirmishers, behind the Tenth Missouri on the right of the road, and I ordered Lieutenant Joyce, commanding the battery, to sell the enemy vigorously, That portion of the Seventh Kansas not dismounted was held in reserve.

The order to shell the enemy was obeyed with good will, the men standing to their guns under a heavy fire of musketry without flinching and with undaunted coolness. Much of this courage must ve attributed to the daring and bravery of Lieutenant Peter Joyce, who was everywhere among his men, encouraging them with his presence and assuring them by his coolness. First Sergt. W. P. Edgar, of this battery, was acting lieutenant and deserves much praise for the efficient aid he rendered in working the guns, and the unsurpassed bravery he displayed. I regret to say that he met with a serious, though not a dangerous, wound, a ball passing through his hand.

Having cannonaded the enemy as I considered a sufficient length of time, I ordered the battery to cease firing, and advanced my whole line of battle up the hill and through the woods, and if the fire had been severe before, it now became heavier; and no sooner had my men shown themselves on the summit of the hill, than the on us, along his whole line, a tremendous and destructive volley of musketry, as severe, for the time it lasted, as any I have ever had the fortune to witness. Here we sustained all the losses that befell us that day. Captain H. G. Burns, of the Tenth Missouri, a young and dashing and as brave a soldier as ever wielded a sword,, fell at this point, pierced through the lungs by a musket-ball, in advance of his men and cheering them on to victory. Two of his own men and 1 of Company E, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, were killed at this place and almost at the same time. Several men were wounded here.

From this time on it was evident the day was ours . We continued our advance through the woods, when, after a few wavering volleys, the enemy fired in dismay, leaving us the victory and the field.

As soon as the enemy began to fly, I ordered three squadrons of the Seventh Kansas, under Major Jenkins, to pursue him as far as Iuka. He followed him to that place, captured a battery wagon and forge and burned them, but saw nothing of the enemy, and returned. He had a battery of four pieces of artillery, with which he ingloriously fled to his fastnesses on Bear Creek.

Having proceeded as for as my instructions directed, I made inquiries as to the enemy's numbers and position, when I learned that in front of me, toward Bear Creek, his force was some 2,500 strong, while there was a large force on either of my flanks. The force I had encountered numbered from 1,500 to 1,800.

As to the enemy's loss, I have no definite means of ascertaining, but am told, on inquiry, that it was large. Four dead bodies of rebel sol-